Kirkuk, 1918-1968
Subtitle: Oil and the Politics of Identity in an Iraqi City
Contributors: Owen, E. Roger; Frank, Alison; Fuccaro, Nelida
Published: 2012
Language: eng
Description: In this dissertation, I use methodological approaches from studies of urbanism, oil modernity, nation building, and identity formation to analyze the relationships between urban change, oil, state integration, and the politicization of group identities in the multiethnic Iraqi city of Kirkuk from 1918 to 1968. I argue that, in early to mid-twentieth-century Kirkuk, the oil industry, Baghdad's policies, and the British neocolonial presence interacted with local conditions to produce the crystallization of ethnic group identities within a nascent domain of local politics. I find that at the time of the formation of the Iraqi state in the early 1920s, group identities in Kirkuk were fluid and local politics did not align clearly with ethnicities or other self-identities. Instead, they were largely subsumed under relations between more powerful external entities. Kirkukis' political loyalties were based on which entity best served their interests, or, as was often the case, were positioned against a side based on its perceived hostility to their concerns.
Notes: Keywords: Iraq, Kirkuk, oil, petroleum, urban history.

Thesis Ph.D. Harvard University 2012